Unidentified Drones Over Staten Island, Elected Officials Call For Answers in December 13 Press Release

The following was transcribed from a press release posted by Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis’s Facebook. It was transcribed by everyone’s favorite Staten Island stenographer, Christopher Day.

(He was not, in fact, anyone’s favorite stenographer.)

In full disclosure, I’m not paid by any of these people, and they probably find my usual brand of activism repulsive. But I felt this a matter of importance that people should be allowed to read through without having to watch the entire 17-minute video. Shout out to r/StatenIslandPulse on Reddit and Staten Island Neighbors on Facebook. I would like to voice the opinion that we should not be suggesting people be allowed to shoot down the drones, as Mr. Fossella appears to suggest. If they’re to be shot down, let them be shot down by the authorities that be in some controlled, calculated manner. People shooting into the sky in a city and borough as populated as ours has too much potential to hurt or kill people.

Transcriptions of factual events are not copyrighted. Share this wherever you want.

A PDF download will be made available followed by a plain text version below.

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12132024 Press Release Posted by Nicole Malliotakis Download

ATTENDANT SPEAKERS:
VITO FOSSELLA, STATEN ISLAND BOROUGH PRESIDENT
NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JESSICA SCARCELLA-SPANTON, NEW YORK STATE SENATE
MICHAEL TANNOUSIS, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
DAVID CARR, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
KAMILLAH HANKS, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
JAMES CLINTON, RICHMOND COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
On behalf of District Attorney Michael McMahon

DENISE PACHECO, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
On behalf of Assembly Member Michael Reilly.

MR. FOSSELLA: Um, good morning, everybody. My name is Vito Fossella, and I just want to pose a question I think is on millions of people’s minds around here. What if there were 3,000 reports of drones or manned aircraft sightings over the U.S. capital, or the White House, or the State House in Albany? What would happen? There would be an immediate and intense response to figure out what they were, and to solve the problem. And yet millions of people around here, New Jersey, of course here in Staten Island, and beyond, are getting nothing but, “don’t believe what you see.” You know, there’s a saying we had after 9/11, “if you see something, say something,” I think that’s become “if you see something, don’t worry about it, ’cause we saw it too.”

And the people of Staten Island deserve answers. The people of this city, and state, and region deserve answers of what the heck is going on. Just last night, in my neighborhood, my neighbor sent a video of whatever it is flying over our house. And yet we’re told “don’t believe what you see.” It’s shocking to us that here we are almost a month later, 3,000 sightings, drones, manned aircraft, at least — and our folks don’t have an answer.

We’re calling upon not just the New York City Police Department, but others, to get involved, get aggressive, figure out what these things are, and help at least alleviate some of the frustration, anxiety that many people share. This is 2024, they’re either lying, or they’re incompetent, or they’re both. How can we, the United States of America, have this going on, and we’re told just look the other way, ignore it, it’s no big deal?

We know for a fact that there may be some who, you know, are performing some type of surveillance. Well, let’s be honest with the American people and treat them like adults and tell them what it is. Yet here we are standing because we know recently the reports over this asset, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, here we are with Fort Wadsworth, oldest military installation in the country. There was, we believe, a drone flying above the bridge. We also know on the other side of the island there was a drone flying over New York container port and the Goethals Bridge. And we’re supposed to just let it be?

Come on, folks, step up to the plate and be honest and truthful with the American people, the people of Staten Island, and solve this problem once and for all. We’re in this together. I know we have many folks around this region who are weighing in now. It’s about time. We started a couple of weeks ago asking, along with the Congresswoman, to include at least Staten Island in any investigation going on with the FAA and FBI. This is not to take away from them. They didn’t start this problem. But they have an obligation to let us know what the heck is going on.
As I said, we’re all in this together. And representing us in D.C. and Congress is our Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis.

MS. MALLIOTAKIS: Thank you, Vito. 20 years ago they filmed War of the Worlds on Staten Island, and now we feel like we’re characters in that movie. What is happening is outrageous. Thousands of drones and unmanned aerial systems flying above us, and our government is not telling us who’s operating them, and for what purpose.

I don’t believe that the United States of America, with its military capabilities, does not know what these objects are. And what I’m asking, and what we’re all asking, is for you to be straight with us, and just tell us what is going on. As Vito says, this is — this is creating havoc. People are confused. They’re concerned. They have anxiety. They don’t know what’s going on. There’s all sorts of theories that are out there. And the best way to address this is to just be honest and tell the American people what is going on. These are not recreational drones. These are not, I don’t believe, commercial drones, because if they are, they are violating existing rules and regulations which say that they need to be under 400 feet and they can’t be operating in the middle of the night between sunset and sunrise.

So that leaves two options. It’s our government, or there’s a foreign nexus. And so either our government is doing some type of surveillance activity or surveying, or, what really would concern, I think, everyone, there’s a foreign government that is doing this type of activity and surveillance, and they’re doing it above sensitive infrastructure, Verrazzano Bridge, this U.S. Coast Guard base, the army installation across the water, power plants, ports, and so, again, just be straight with us. Tell us what it is. And let’s address it the best possible way so we can calm everyone down and make sure that these don’t pose a threat to our national security and public safety. Because even if it is not nefarious, the fact that these things are flying all over is a public safety issue. There can be an accident. There could be an explosion. There could be a crash. This is a very densely-populated area. And going back to the FAA restrictions, you cannot be flying these things above and around buildings if it’s commercial or recreational.

So something’s not right here, and we need our government to give us answers, and also put in place restrictions so that this does not continue, and enforce the existing regulations and restrictions. And that means our government needs to follow those rules as well. Thank you.
MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Nicole. You know, recently we had — just a few days ago, we had announced the city, in partnership with the MTA, Port Authority, and others, actually took 70,000 ghost vehicles off the roads, bikes, E-bikes, mopeds, motorcycles, and cars. And yet here we are helpless with these ghost drones flying above. We also know, as Nicole said, this is a public safety issue, because of the reports out of New Jersey, how somebody who needed to be medevac’d to a hospital was prevented from doing so because of the drones. And we’re just supposed to take this lightly?

With us at the state level is State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton.

MS. SCARCELLA-SPANTON: Thank you. Good morning. You know, one of the best sayings is that sunlight is always the best disinfectant. And leaving people and our community up to their own devices to decide what these drones might be, could be, and not giving the people answers from the top, from the government officials who are way higher up than any of us here locally, it’s not right to us as we get hundreds upon hundreds of constituent requests and questions asking them what this is about, that we have no answers.

So this is us standing today demanding an answer. We need to be able to tell our constituents what is going on, and even if you just could provide a little bit more information. Is this something of ours? Is this something that you need to do for security purposes? Even if it’s vague, an answer is better than “look away. Don’t look up.” That’s unacceptable.

And the people of New Jersey, which I have friends who are complaining that there are dozens upon dozens above her house. She lives by a military installation in Jersey. Every single night. And nobody is doing anything. We need answers and we need them now. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Jessica. Now, there’s also reports of “why don’t you shoot them down?” Perhaps the President of the United States, or the Governor of the State of New York or elsewhere should say or issue an executive order to allow people to shoot the things down. There are those who have said in public life, “well, don’t — don’t be concerned.” Some of those people actually said they don’t know what they are, but don’t be concerned. You can’t have it both ways. How can you not know what they are and say you shouldn’t be concerned? So we’re getting to the point of reckless. Reckless rhetoric. Reckless behavior. And basically, as I said before, you’re either lying or incompetent to the people. State Assemblyman Michael Tannousis.

MR. TANNOUSIS: Thank you to the borough president for holding this press conference today. You know, tons and tons of constituents have contacted my office. I know they contacted the offices of my colleagues. And we just don’t know what to tell them. We just don’t know what to tell them because we’re not getting any answers. And it’s completely inexcusable. They owe it to the taxpayers. We owe it to the taxpayers. We, as representatives of the taxpayers, need to be able to inform our constituents of what the investigation has yielded, and we have none of that. We have none of that.

They’re either lying or they’re incompetent. It’s 2024. You mean to tell me that we don’t have the means to find out what these are within our own borders over New Jersey, over Staten Island, over the tri-state area? Completely inexcusable. And I call not just from the federal government. I call on the New York State Police. I call on the NYPD to get involved, coordinate, investigate, so we can finally get some answers for our constituents. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Michael. Well, point of personal privilege, at 10:02, I just became a grandfather.

(Cheering).

MR. FOSSELLA: First grandchild, Miley Parker (names phonetic), so congratulations to Kierstan — sorry about that — sorry about the baby. Anyway.

With us, a great fighter locally in the City Council, a great — not just a great representative, great person. Councilman David Carr.

MR. CARR: Thank you so much, Borough President. Congratulations. And we appreciate your leadership. Even when family duty calls, you’re here with us today fighting. And I particularly want to thank also the Congresswoman who has been on top of this since this issue first emerged. She’s been absolutely a fighter for us in DC and here in New York.

The truth of the matter is that the people just want to know what’s going on. Communication breeds confidence. Silence breeds insecurity. And if this is really nothing, right, then just get us the answer and tell us what it is. When sightings of this nature happen of this magnitude and above sensitive locations, above people’s homes, they have a right to want to know what is going on. They have a right to answers, and that’s all we’re seeking. We’re seeking answers so that we can calm the situation down, if indeed it is something that is not a big deal. And if it is a big deal, the people also need to be secure in the knowledge that whatever it is, that their government at every level, federal, state, and city, is acting in their best interest, is acting to protect them and their families. And they’re never gonna know that unless they get the answers we’re all here seeking today. So I thank my colleagues here in Staten Island and throughout the region for their leadership in seeking those answers, and we commit to our constituencies that we’re going to get them the security they deserve. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you very much councilman. And joining us from the West Shore, a great person indeed, a good friend, Council member Kamillah Hanks.

MS. HANKS: Congratulations. Thank you so much. Once again — once again — you have the entire Staten Island elected officials standing before you today, because these times are uncertain. And in these uncertain times, every day adds a new issue that affects our public safety. So the latest are now drones. So I’m not going to belabor the point, for time and warmth, to repeat everything that my colleagues have said here behind me. But I am here to make sure that the hundreds of constituents that reached out to our office, that I am here with you, Staten Island elected officials are here with you, we are here demanding answers from the NYPD, our government, and anyone and everyone who can let us know what’s happening.

Again, these times are uncertain and people are afraid. Every day there’s a new calamity, a new thing that is threatening our public safety. So I thank our Borough President, our Congresswoman, and my colleagues standing behind me. It’s wonderful to have such colleagues that are always on call and always there fighting for the betterment of Staten Island. Thank you so much, stay warm, and happy holidays.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Council member. Michelle, you’re not going to speak?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MR. FOSSELLA: From Council member Borelli’s office, Michelle. And from DA McMahon’s office, James Clinton. James, you want to say something?

MR. CLINTON: Sure. Thank you. Good morning, folks. James Clinton here on behalf of Staten Island district attorney Mike McMahon. I want to congratulate the Borough President. Also thank him for gathering us here today. Now, you heard some of the potential public safety risks associated with these drones. It’s very easy to imagine a worst-case scenario here. But we deserve to know what’s flying in our skies. We deserve to protect our airspace. Staten Islanders deserve answers. So too do our neighbors in Jersey. All right?

And there’s another concern here, which is we’ve seen this over the past four years, really, is that when the federal government is not readily forthcoming, or even local government is not readily forthcoming with critical information that Americans are demanding, it’s very easy for misinformation, disinformation, and fear to spread, which is something we all want to prevent. Right? So the best way to prevent that is transparency. And right now we’re not getting those answers. So yes, as the Assemblyman stated, we’re calling on the NYPD. We’re also calling on federal law enforcement to empower local law enforcement, make sure that we get the resources, technology, and necessary people power here on the ground to conduct a thorough investigation, find out what is going on here, and get those answers back to the American people. The DA’s office is here today because this is a nonpartisan issue. This is about government transparency and public safety. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: All right, James. Thank you. From Assemblyman Michael Riley’s office, Denise Pacheco.

MS. PACHECO: Good morning. I am Denise Pacheco. I represent Assembly Member Michael Reilly. I apologize, the Assembly member could not be here this morning. Like his colleagues before us, he is deeply concerned about the recent drone activity reported in our community. As you’ve seen today, we are committed to working with our partners in government and law enforcement to investigate this matter and will continue to monitor the situation as it develops. The safety and security of our community — I apologize for that. For our community, of course, is our top priority. Assembly member Reilly encourages Staten Islanders to report any suspicious drone activity to local authorities by calling 311 or 911. Thank you and have a great day.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you Denise. Anybody else? Got everybody. So here you have it. You know, we’re speaking with one voice. I think we’re speaking on behalf of the voice of people — half a million people in Staten Island, millions across this region. I dare say, for those who dated ourselves, perhaps it’s time to call in the drone ranger.

(Laughter).

MR. FOSSELLA: I know. I’m ridiculous. Sorry about that. Anyway, the mommy and the baby are doing great. That’s most important to me right now, so.

(END OF VIDEO POSTED ON NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS’S FACEBOOK.)

Transcribed by Christopher Day, Stenonymous.com

Hey Staten Island Neighbors, Be Wary of Digital Court Reporting!

I’m in a local community Facebook group called Staten Island Neighbors. Fun group. Highly suggested to any of my readers from Staten Island.

I thought I’d raise to my community a more national issue that I’ve been raising consumer awareness on for years now because, sure as hell, it impacts us locally, specifically jobseekers.

If you want to skip the story bits, scroll down to the next bolded part.

I’ve been a stenographic court reporter for about 14 years now. There are many of us on Staten Island. We’re the people you see in court with those funny stenotype machines. It’s a good living. And there are much more reputable Staten Islanders that I bet would agree.

And when I went to school for what I’m doing, I was told a great many things about the outlook of the career. Lots of nuance to that discussion. But if you want to become a court reporter for the New York State Court Unified Court System, stenographic court reporting remains the way to do it.

Over the years I documented a private sector plot to fool lawyer and student consumers into accepting something called digital reporting, that is, the recording and transcribing of testimony. Digital’s been around for many decades in one form or another and hasn’t supplanted stenography because it’s less efficient. About half a decade ago, a shift started to happen, and long story short, large corporations in our field started spending A LOT of time and money on digital reporting. The end goal is pretty simple. They want to push us stenographers out of the market, put in lower paid digital reporters, and pocket the difference. And their money and influence even spread to our College of Staten Island.

Here’s the deal for anyone that clicked that Ed 2 Go link, these people are not trustworthy people. Ed 2 Go is known to have worked with fraudsters like Brian Kennedy. Veritext, one of the plot pushers, is owned by Leonard Green, a private equity group known for looting hospitals for poor people. BlueLedge digital court reporting training is either owned by or heavily affiliated with Veritext. There’s a whole rabbit hole that’s not appropriate for this post. But these are not people that we can trust with our futures or our kids’ futures.

I documented this stuff so well that when you Google Veritext fraud, my stuff comes up, and the multimillion dollar Veritext hasn’t sued because it would only cause the evidence against the company reach a courtroom.

TLDR: The bottom line is that a lot of time and money is being spent on convincing Staten Islanders that digital court reporting is a good job when in reality it is lower paid and has fewer job opportunities than stenographic reporting. Tell your friends and family if they’re considering a digital court reporting career.

Happy to answer questions in the comments. I’m a lifelong Staten Islander. The media and government are ignoring what has been documented despite the illegal actions of these corporations, so it is down to us to protect each other through information sharing. That’s what this website brings to the table. That’s what Staten Island Neighbors brings to the table. And to all those that believe in honest business, and believe businesses shouldn’t violate the law to get ahead, thanks for sharing.

The Billionaire Brigade Declares War on the National Labor Relations Board*

*This musing is not very court reporting related. I do mention us a little. But insofar as I am a writer for the labor movement, here goes.

Amazon has joined the companies declaring the National Labor Relations Board unconstitutional.

Fortune writes that an attorney for the Amazon Labor Union stated “since they can’t defeat successful union organizing, they now want to just destroy the whole process.”

Highlights from the event? The NLRB is over 80 years old and other companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Trader Joe’s have made similar arguments.

This one has a special place in my heart. I think of Christian Smalls, AKA Chris Smalls, who was able to unionize Amazon in New York City’s only “red” Republican-voting borough, Staten Island. My hometown. This is a surprise because the Republican political class is staunchly against working people. Right-to-work laws, for example, give a great name to something fairly insidious. The laws don’t actually provide a right to work or any working rights. They’re meant solely and exclusively to weaken union power. Unions raise pay for non-union workers, so unionization is a victory for all working people. But Republican voters are mostly working people who don’t have time to stay up on the politics and the societal impacts of these laws, so this kind of stuff flies under the radar. Chris Smalls broke through that and unionized anyway.

It’s very much like our field in a sense. Many reporters I’ve spoken to are anti-union. They think that being an employee means 9 to 5. They think that being an employee means less freedom. There are very few in the field who have the kind of free time they’d need to understand and conceptualize an employment contract that would give them all of the freedom they enjoy today and more. Thanks, in part, to my own success, I have that kind of time, at least at this moment in my life. I use it to promote discussion about the underpayment of educated working people. As I told a friend that recently accused me of being envious of the wealthy, my salary is more than 3x the median wage of the United States. I got mine. I’m trying to help everybody else get theirs. And I do mean everybody.

We don’t get there until we stop the systemic squeeze on the average Joes and Janes of the world and start talking about how to spark a brighter future in the face of all that we are facing. Don’t ever think I’m not grateful for the rich conditions I’ve grown up in, that is to say, I could have been born in a much poorer country or to a much poorer family. Many around the world struggle daily worse than I will ever struggle. But what can I say? I’m a writer. My ideal is one where I use my position of privilege to advocate for and inspire others to advocate for political and economic conditions that will allow America to do what it has done for hundreds of years and lead the world into the future not through military might and weapons of war but by invention of the technologies that will uplift all of us. It starts at home, folks. More money in more hands means more issues see funding. It’ll mean the market really will decide & provide rather than our current system where wealth concentrates at the top and leaves the bottom of the pyramid crumbling from habitual not-my-problem culture.

Traditional news doesn’t publish what I’m about to write because it’s not in the business of informing people, it’s in the business of clicks and views. That’s why, when I took to the internet to publish about the ongoing fraud on New York and Staten Island jobseekers, pretty much all the outlets I wrote to ignored it. It’s okay to swindle 30,000 people as long as you make the swindling complex enough that a newsroom editor says “let’s run with another story.”

Artwork Commissioned to Expose BlueLedge, digital court reporting training.

Artwork Commissioned to Expose the Speech-to-Text Institute. Months after its creation, the organization was sued and shut down its website.

Back to the Billionaire Brigade. This is the dumbest thing that these companies could do to America.

To understand why we have these laws, you have to go back in time and read about the history of the American labor movement. It was violent. Employers squeezed their employees, didn’t pay enough, and in some cases let them burn to death thanks to how bad the working conditions were.

In turn, some members of the labor movement blew up their employers with bombs and shot at people employed by union busters. What a surprise! When you create unfair conditions for people under the law, they start fighting back in ways that are outside the law. People must abide by the law. But we must address the truth of human nature. Unfair laws lead to revolution and the only way to stave that off is to have fair laws or crush people that would oppose the unfair laws. We allegedly have a mental health crisis in America. If these folks want to turn back the clock back a century and relive what was going on back then with the benefit of modern weaponry and deteriorating medical care for the chronically unwell while social media algorithms fill them with rage bait, we are going to live with the consequences. We have to make a choice on whether we want to live in that kind of environment or if we’d prefer the billionaire brigade to pay a little bit more and treat people a little bit better. Does everyone understand why I’m willing to write mean words yet?

As luck would have it, New York is a state that seems to understand that fair laws matter. It recently increased the statute of limitations for illegal employment discrimination from 1 year to 3 years under the New York State Human Rights Law, also known as our New York State Constitution. This is juxtaposed against the federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which gives employees 6 months. I think this is a good move. I recently had correspondence with a New York City jobseeker from our field. We both believe she was discriminated against on the basis of race. But that decision to go to a lawyer and exercise her rights is a hard decision to make. And, in fact, I know a thing or two about looking for an employment discrimination lawyer. Even after you’ve made the hard decision, if there are bad facts or low damages, law offices might turn you away without giving you an honest reason why, even if they’re rumored to have phenomenal lawyers.

Those that fail to study history are doomed to repeat it. And you don’t have to look far back into America’s history to live in an America that most of us want no part in, and that our predecessors were smart enough to pull us from inch, by inch, by inch.

Are we all just another gradient on the ruler?

P.S.

For the Staten Island court reporters in my audience, feel free to check out r/StatenIslandPulse. I find the moderator to be much more accepting of news and content than r/statenisland. It’s a small group, but they’re pretty cool. Not my group. r/PatriotsAgainstCorps is mine, but it’s more a conversation starter than a group at this point in history.

I also started a Facebook group Staten Island Progressive. I figure I understand the laws well enough and can generally read up on what I don’t understand. With some likeminded friends we could probably make some real differences. For example, a campaign to codify more rights into our constitution or amend our criminal laws to be pro-people or even streamline the court process. That is, find the balance that keeps our Staten Island businesses safe and our criminal justice system reactive to the needs of our population. McMahon seems to be addressing the mental health thing. But will our next district attorney if our voters are perceived as being ignorant about these issues? No joke, I have a friend that was injured in 2018. His case is still open! Six years. Imagine waiting six years for a resolution to an injury case before the trial has even happened and the appeals have even started. I can barely remember what I did yesterday (Factorio)! I learned recently that all a company has to do is say it’s buried in subpoenas and needs 60 days to respond to delay a felony case by two months.

These are things that society needs to talk about, as under our current economic conditions, wealth concentrates at the top, people have less money for their innovative and vital spending. That is, if people cannot afford doctors, lawyers, and professionals of all shapes and sizes, the pay of those professionals may not increase commensurate with the cost of living, which will then create a sort of negative feedback where those white collar professionals can’t hire the blue collar professionals while the people who play with companies, credit, and people’s lives like they’re toys and video games pull even more money from the population and ultimately have more resources to play more games with companies, credit, and people’s lives.

If nothing else, just know that my message is the same as it’s always been. You have the power to make a difference.

And if anybody wants to lay down the funding for a political media company, I bet we could make a return. I know a man who has a voice for podcasting. I know a strong singer. And my ability to think outside the bounds of conventional companies makes me a candidate for directing the thing and managing the payroll, insurance, and all that good stuff. Even something like a for-profit think tank could benefit local businesses and our population in general by pushing alternative media that captures the attention and imagination of powerful people. Say what you want about people like Alex Jones, he made a lot of money. Now imagine if you had someone with morals that was willing to be just as zany and draw just as much media attention for the purpose of benefitting small businesses and the country as a whole, and making sweet returns for the investors that believe in it? I’m just not in a financial position to take a serious go at it. There’s definitely money in this stuff. Why couldn’t I help an investor, or even many small investors, to some of it?

A writer can dream, can’t he?

Thanks for reading.